It's Not Over 'Till We're Underground
by andrea33304
Summary: RHr,HG then HOC As Harry's fate draws closer, he recieves help from a powerful magical family. As he discovers the strength he had no idea he had, he and his friends begin to learn what it means to be in love, and that it always conquers pain and war. R
1. Ashlen C Blackwell

It's Not Over Till We're Underground, Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** The only thing that belongs to me in this story are the blackwells. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling or independent Italian restaurants.

This story begins from the end of sixth year, as an alternative for the seventh book. As you read, you'll understand why it's an 'alternative'.

Harry slowly walked over to the lazy park bench, squinting in the bright light of the June sun. He sat down slowly, clutching a letter in his hand. He leaned back, and straightened the wrinkles from the letter. Harry sighed, and read the letter through again.

_Dear Harry,_

_You don't know me, but... it'll be really important that you do. My name is Ashlen Blackwell, and it is immensely important that you and I meet. I was hoping that you and I could take a walk, and I could fill you in on everything that you need to know about my family and your safety. _

_My parents want you, the Weasleys, and the Grangers, to spend the summer with us. The safest place right now is with us, and my family guarantees you will be safe from any Dark Magic threats. _

_Could you meet me at the park bench at one o'clock tomorrow? Thanks, and stay cool until then._

_Love, _

_Ashlen C. Blackwell. _

_PS. I attached this week's Daily Prophet. Hopefully, this will give you some idea of why I need to meet you tomorrow._

A wrinkled Prophet was attached, just as Ashlen had said. He needed not to search the newspaper- the article Ashlen had mentioned was on the front page.

A large picture with a huge crowd of people crowded into the frame lay under large headlines- _The Blackwells; a Magical Revolution... and our Saviors?. _They all looked the same- somewhat wavy hair, and handsome, long faces. The article talked about how they had been in hiding, but had come out, and told of their magical achievements. These included the ability to mold the fabric of time and space and temporary resurrection, along with powerful magics. It didn't mention, though, how to do these things; although they were great achievements, the article read that the Blackwells were the only ones who were able to do them. The article said they had given demonstrations, but it seemed shady. Personally, Harry didn't believe it, and he told Ron and Hermione about it; they said that they had received letters from a Mrs. Blackwell, which had said that they had been invited to spend the summer with them. Upon questioning further, Ron had told him that the Blackwells were the newest members of the Order of the Phoenix, and were helping with the safety of the Ministry and headquarters. Feeling a bit more secure, Harry decided he would meet this Ashlen.

Even without this letter to cloud his mind, Harry was going through some intense depression. Dumbledore's death had shaken him horribly, and he felt as if there was no hope left, and even he himself, the only chance for the wizarding world to survive, felt as if it wasn't worth it. He was angry at Snape, angry at Dumbledore, angry at himself- Snape, for murdering Dumbledore, Dumbledore for trusting Snape and weakening himself in the face of danger, and himself for having done nothing to help save Dumbledore. Dumbledore's words of Harry's 'power' echoed through his mind in the night- how would he be able to defeat Voldemort, one of the most powerful sorcerers of all time? Yes, he promised to himself, he would fight to the end, but what if it was all for nothing, and he failed? Was he ready for the horrible task Dumbledore had left him?

Ron and Hermione had begged Harry to let them accompany him to Privet Drive, and later to see his parents' graves, but he refused, feeling his depressed state increase. It was enough that they were risking their lives to help him find the Horcruxes. He knew that Ron and Hermione would try to comfort him, but right now he wanted to just think about everything.

_It's all my fault..._ he constantly reminded himself. He knew he mustn't think that way, but the thought loomed in the back of his mind. It always was- he had let Sirius and Dumbledore die, when he could have done something, anything, to stop their deaths...

Harry carefully folded the letter in half, and glanced down at his watch. 12:56. He sat up, and looked down the road. Seeing no-one approaching, he looked to the other side. He saw someone walking about a block away, and he felt his heart pound in anticipation. His hand instinctively went to his back pocket, gripping his wand.

He carefully watched the person walk nearer, and saw it was a girl. She wore a knee length skirt, and her hair was down. His eyes scanned the silhouette of her head, attempting to make out a face, but unable from the sun's bright light. She was now a couple of feet away from the bench, and she stopped.

Neither moved, waiting for the other. The girl moved first, and hesitantly sat down next to him, wrapping her hands in her lap. He could see her face now; she was beautiful, with lightly tanned skin covered in pale freckles, soft flowing eyebrows, large hazel eyes, a handsome nose, and plump peachy lips. She turned her head toward him, and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi," he replied. He was almost... entranced by her beauty, forgetting everything else for a second. He blinked, staring into the hazel depths of her eyes.

"So... do you wanna go for that walk?" She asked quietly. She stared back at him, and bit her lip, furrowing her brow.

"Sure, Ashlen," Harry replied, standing up slowly.

Ashlen smiled briefly, and stood up after him. "Call me Ashley... Ashlen's too... I don't know, but I don't like it all that much," She walked next to him slowly, smiling at her name. Harry looked down her body, taking in her wardrobe; she wore a simple white tee-shirt, big and bulky but bright blue wooden pearls, a flowing silky skirt of a blue and green flower pattern, and a pair of light blue flats. She wore big blue pearl earrings, and kept the dirty blonde bangs out of her eyes with a light green barrette. He looked back down at her face, and noticed vaguely how the bright light lit up her face.

"Where do you want to go? I don't really know this neighborhood," he began to hear her accent, which was American. He shrugged, and looked down at his feet. "I'm hungry, I haven't had lunch yet. Do you want to go get some lunch?" He nodded, and looked up again.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked her as they walked towards the nearby outlet.

"Did you get my Daily Prophet?" she asked him.

"Yeah- the entire 'Blackwell magical powers' sounded a bit far off, though..." He replied.

"It wasn't." Harry stopped in his tracks, and turned to her sharply.

"Are you serious? How do I know you aren't lying?" Ashley rolled her eyes, and looked around on the ground. She spotted what she was looking for- a dead and rotting bird. She beckoned Harry closer, and bent down towards the bird.

Ashley put her face close to the bird, whispered some strange words, and blew softly on the bird. As she stood up, Harry watched in amazement as the body got bigger, the rotting skin disappeared, and wings grew in its place. Soon, a small bird was lazily waving its wings, and once hopping around for a bit, flew off into the park.

"Wow... so you guys can really do all those things?" Harry was amazed almost beyond words.

"Yeah," she answered. "That's why we want you to live with us during the summer, while you prepare for everything you have to do. There's an alternate universe, not much different from this one, but there isn't any magic... Voldemort doesn't know about it, so there's nowhere safer you can stay." He stared at her, surprised she used Vodermort's name. He turned forward again, and nodded.

"All right. When will we go pick up Ron and Hermione?"

"Well, my brother is gonna pick us up back at the bench at two-thirty," she replied as they walked slowly into the commercial streets of Privet Drive. "That place looks nice, "she said, pointing to a small Italian restaurant. "Wanna eat there?"

Harry nodded, holding the door of the restaurant open for her. Ashley smiled briefly at him, and followed a waiter to a small table near the window. He handed them menus, and left to handle the other customers.

"What do you want to eat? It's my treat," Ashley said, smiling warmly at him.

Harry glanced down at the leather menu. "Maybe... some spaghetti? With the lobster sauce... and prawns."

"Sounds great. Are you really hungry?" she asked, flipping to the back of the menu to look at the drinks.

"Not much, I ate a little before," he replied, setting down the menu.

"Well, why don't we order the spaghetti, an entree, and drinks for each of us? The dishes seem really big here, we could share the spaghetti," Ashley told him, glancing over to the surrounding tables.

Harry nodded, and leaned back in the chair. The waiter rushed over again, and took their orders. He left them alone again, and an empty silence filled the space between them. Harry looked out the window as Ashley played with the fringe of her skirt.

Suddenly, a worrying thought popped into Harry's head. "Wait- I was warned that Death Eaters had surveillance on my house, but there's a two-block safety bubble around my house... were not in the safe places anymore, what if we're attacked?"

"Don't worry about that! The Death Eaters that were supposed to be watching you are currently unconscious, and when they wake up, they will remember that you never left your house, as you've done for the past week. When you're with me, you've got nothing to worry about." Ashley smiled. Somewhat reassured, Harry looked out the window for any signs of Death Eaters.

He noticed a young girl pulling the arm of an old man, probably her grandfather, who was laughing as she led him to the nearby toy store. Harry looked at the expression of joy in the grandfather's face, and was painfully reminded of the expression on Dumbledore's face when he had finally gotten the Slughorn's memory. Harry bit his lip, and tore his sight away from the two happy people.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Ashley asked, leaning over the table to examine him more closely.

Harry looked up at her, and nodded, gulping. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Ashley frowned, and asked him again, "Are you really?"

Harry gulped again, and looked out the window. "I just miss Dumbledore, that's all. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Ashley sighed, and leaned her chin on her hand. "Can I tell you a story?"

Harry looked at her, confused. "Sure, I guess."

Ashley smiled, and shuffled her chair closer to the table. "Well, I used to know this guy. His name was David, and he was the best friend everyone dreams of having but only a few people ever actually meet. He was so nice, and... he just knew how to make you feel better, you know? Well, we knew each other since we were, like, negative four years old, and we were best friends forever. When we were fifteen, I kinda had a crush on him, so I told him. It turned out he'd been crushing on me since we were thirteen, and we... kind of hit it off. We went out, and the transition from best friends to couple wasn't so large, so not much really changed. But, after a few months, we sort of stopped doing couple stuff, so we decided to just go back to being best friends. Being in that sort of a relationship, especially after dating him, just made this... bond between us, and I was so attached to him. But then, one day..." Ashley paused, and Harry saw a small tear beginning to form at the edge of her eye.

"One day... or night, really... I had this horrible nightmare... I can't remember what it was, but it upset me so much to the point that only David could make me feel okay again. I called his house, but the phone didn't even ring. Then I called his cell phone, but... he didn't answer, which was totally unlike him. He never turns off his cell phone, and his ring tone is the loudest, most obnoxious thing ever, so I was really worried that something had happened. I woke up my mom, and she drove me to his house. When we got there, the door was broken, and the house was a mess. I ran up to his room, and there he was... dead. I-I couldn't move, and my mom somehow dragged me back home, and I just started to cry." At this point, a silent tear was slipping from Ashley's eyes, and she wiped them off with her napkin.

The waiter rushed over to them again, bringing their food. He set down the spaghetti, the stromboli bits Ashley had ordered, and two plates. Ashley picked up her utensils, and served some of the spaghetti onto her plate. She stared down at her food, twirling some spaghetti pointlessly, and continued with her story: "I was really depressed for a couple of weeks. We tried therapy, but it didn't help at all. I think I was actually able to accept David's death, and be able to move on, when I saw this little boy in the park. He was running around a little girl in crazy circles, just like how David would sometimes to cheer me up. The little boy also had the same skin color as David, and I'll tell you, David had the most beautiful skin you could ever imagine. When it was a really gorgeous day out, with the sun in the sky, David's skin would gleam like shined copper, and it was always so soft. When I saw that little boy, and how much he reminded me of David, I sort of realized that... well, you can always see a little bit of the people you love in the world around you. Like you, Harry-" She said, smiling softly. Harry's eyebrows shot up. "Your nose looks just like how David's did. Well, except for the skin color, but otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart." She grinned, and twirled some spaghetti in her fork. She brought it up to her mouth, and shoved the large bunch into her mouth. "Mmm- this is really good."

Harry twirled some spaghetti, and ate some for himself. "Yeah, it really is. Thanks for the story. I don't really know why you told it to me, though..."

Ashley snorted, and grinned. "Well, you can figure that out for yourself. Meanwhile, you better eat faster, or I'm gonna eat it all by myself, and that is going to do nothing for my thighs." Harry laughed, and bit into a stromboli bit.

"So-" he said, his mouth full of the delicious Italian cuisine. "Are we actually supposed to spend an hour and a half eating Italian food?"

Ashley smiled, and took a sip of water. "My parents weren't sure of how long it would take for you to feel comfortable with their request for you to spend the summer with us, but lucky for me, you weren't. Here I came, ready to flirt with you until you _finally_ gave in," Harry laughed, and watched her take another giant bite of her stromboli bit. "And David always said I'm a horrible flirt when I do it on purpose. But then again, people always complain that I'm always... like, flirting unconsciously with everybody." She shrugged, and piled more spaghetti onto her plate.

"They're right, you know," Harry replied, in a much better mood. Ashley looked up at him, a quizzical expression on her face. He raised his eyebrow at her, and bit into his stromboli again. They both cracked up, laughing into their spaghetti and Harry almost chocking on his stromboli. The neighboring table stared at them, fearing for their sanity. Ashley wiped a tear from her eye again, and chuckling, said, "You are possible even worse than I am, Harry."

He grinned, and wiped some lobster sauce from his lip.

"I guess we could just walk around until two thirty, or go check out the stores around here. What do you want for dessert?" She asked him again, picking up the dessert menu. "How does gelato sound?"

"Sounds good... The chocolate one looks delicious," Harry replied, picking up his own copy. Ashley signaled to the waiter, who instantly came over to them. "May we please have a chocolate gelato and a mango gelato?" The waiter nodded, picked up their plates, and went back into the kitchen.

Ashley straightened her skirt, and sipped some water. "So, what is there to do around here? I'm a bit of a city girl, and I'm not well acquainted with the suburbs of Britain."

Harry shrugged, and said, "Not much; Dudley bullies all the younger kids, and I just walk around pointlessly until school starts."

The waiter returned with their desserts, and gave them both small silver spoons and paper umbrellas. Harry watched Ashley take a giant spoonful of the ice cream, and ate it all at once. "This is just delicious. Did you know gelato has about twice as much sugar as normal ice cream?"

Harry smiled, and took a spoon of his own ice cream. "I think there's a thrift store down the block."

"We should totally go," Ashley said, taking another giant spoonful of her ice cream. "But we have to leave, like, fifteen minutes early to get your luggage and any other crap you have to bring with you." Harry grinned, and nodded.

"How long will it take for us to get to your house?" he asked, taking another spoonful; he noted sadly that he had only a few left of his gelato.

"An hour or so, it's a bit far," Ashley said, finishing her ice cream.

"Where do you live?" Harry asked, eating the last of his ice cream.

"Well, we have an apartment in New York City, a vacation house in north France, and another house in Florida. That's, of course, not counting all the houses everybody in family owns. Like, my older sister works a lot in London, so she has the house there, and we go over sometimes, and my older brother lives with his family in Massachusetts. Our family's pretty big, so we have to accommodate for all of us. A couple of my sisters, brothers, and I go to school in the city, so we live there during the school year, but spend the summer in Florida. During the holidays, we go France, depending on who's around. This summer, we'll all be in Florida. It's gonna rock, Harry. A lot of people don't really like the US or Americans all that much, but it does have gorgeous landscapes and sunsets," Ashley stopped, the waiter returning with the paycheck. Ashley gave him a twenty pound note, and ignoring his comments of returning her change, grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him out onto the street.

"During the summer, we'll… y'know, train and whatever, start researching Horcruxes, and –"

"What?" Harry said, stopping suddenly. Ashley turned to him, puzzled. "I never told you anything about Horcruxes. How do you know about them?"

Ashley sighed, and pulled Harry down onto a bus bench. "There is an explanation for that, but it's every long, and I don't want to deny my mother the opportunity of telling you herself. Basically, in this alternate universe we'll be spending the summer at, there's this lady, and she wrote these books, which are pretty much your story. Her name's JK Rowling, and she wrote, what are referred to in that world, as the Harry Potter Series. She's written seven books, documenting your seven years at Hogwarts. The books pretty much cover your life as a wizard, and your fights against Voldemort. The titles of the books are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Goblet of Fire, the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince, and the Deathly Hallows. That's why I know about Horcruxes." Ashley finished, and waited for his reaction.

Harry couldn't comprehend what she had just said. "What do you mean… my story?"

Ashley frowned, and said, "You don't believe me? Fine-" she reached into a handbag she'd just gotten out from nowhere, and shoved a large book into his hands.

Harry looked down at the cover in shocked surprise. The cover was green and purple, with an old man with a long beard and a black haired bespectacled boy leaning over a large bowl. Above them, in curved letters, read _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_. Harry flipped open the book to the middle, and began to read.

_Pointing his wand at nothing in particular, he gave it an upward flick and said Levicorpus! inside his head.  
"Aaaaaaaargh!"  
There was a flash of light and the room was full of voices: Everyone had woken up as Ron had let out a yell. Harry sent Advanced Potion-Making flying in panic; Ron was dangling upside down in midair as though an invisible hook had hoisted him up by the ankle.  
"Sorry!" yelled Harry, as Dean and Seamus roared with laughter, and Neville picked himself up from the floor, having fallen out of bed. "Hang on- I'll let you down-"  
He groped for the potion book and riffled through it in a panic, trying to find the right page; at last he located it and deciphered one cramped word underneath the spell: Praying that this was the counter-jinx, Harry thought Liberacorpus! with all his might.  
There was another flash of light, and Ron fell in a heap onto his mattress.  
"Sorry," repeated Harry weakly, while Dean and Seamus continued to roar with laughter.  
"Tomorrow," said Ron in a muffled voice, "I'd rather you set the alarm clock."_

Harry slammed the book shut, and shut his eyes. He'd never mentioned that moment to anyone, never talked about it to Ron or anyone else, the teasing from Seamus and Dean enough to keep them quiet. He'd told Hermione about the spell, but Ron made him swear to not mention that moment to her.

"Fine-" he managed to croak. "I believe you." He pushed the book back into her hands, and covered his face with his hands.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ashley asked. "You know, the books are really popular."

Harry groaned, and sat up again. "That's exactly it, Ashley- it's as if… my privacy's been invaded. I mean, my life is a published book!"

Ashley laughed, and stood up. "Don't worry about it, Harry. The only people you'll ever have to meet that have read the books are my family, and that's to your advantage."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as they walked toward the thrift store.

"Well, we have a complete account to refer to during all your time at Hogwarts and all the battles you fought against Voldemort. So if there was ever any crucial information you might have forgotten, we'll know it all."

Harry considered this and shrugged. "I'll need time to get used to the idea, but I guess that's very helpful. Oh, well." Harry looked down at his watch. "It's a quarter till two."

Ashley nodded. "Plenty of time to shop. Where's that cute little thrift store?"

Harry pointed down the block. Ashley stood up again, and led the way. He followed her into the small store, which smelled strongly of incense. Ashley headed straight for the jewelry rack, and pulled out some large decorated hoops.

"What do you think?" she smiled, holding the earrings to her ears. Harry shrugged, and stepped closer to the rack. Ashley picked up another pair, and these had elephants on them. "These are so cute, aren't they?" She grinned.

Half an hour and three pairs of earrings, two scarves, and a pair of slippers later, Harry was nervously leading Ashley back to his uncle's house. He wasn't sure of how the Dursleys would react to her- even he'd been quite wrong-footed when he'd first met her. In fact, he still felt very wrong-footed around her.

He led her up the pathway, and reached to ring the doorbell. The Durleys didn't trust him with a key, so he always had to ring in. Ashley stopped him suddenly, and reaching into her handbag, pulled out: a bottle of hand sanitizer, eyeliner, a small mirror, a comb, and lip gloss. She carefully applied the eyeliner and lip gloss, brushed her hair briefly, and vigorously rubbed hand sanitizer on her arms. She put it all away, and nodded. Harry rang the doorbell, and waited for someone to answer the door.

He could hear heavy footsteps, and the lock opening. The door opened, and Dudley stood there. He wore a brief expression of disgust when he first saw Harry, which swiftly changed to surprise when he saw Ashley. Harry laughed a bit in his mind, remembering his own reaction when he'd first seen Ashley. He walked into the house, pushing Dudley, who hadn't moved, aside. Ashley swiftly followed him into the hall, and as he began to go up the stairs.

"Who is it, Dudley?" called Uncle Vernon. Harry heard more heavy footsteps, and silently cursing, put on an innocent face as his uncle and aunt walked into the hall as well. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia froze in the hall, staring at Ashley. Ashley merely smiled, waiting for Harry to speak.

"This is Ashley," Harry blurted out. "She's my- my-"

"Girlfriend," Ashley finished swiftly, and Harry could swear he saw a shadow of a blink. Catching on, he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm spending the rest of the summer with her at her vacation house," he said, leaning on the wall. Ashley went up a step and reached for his hand, leaning closer to him, and he caught it, swinging it lightly. "It doesn't bother you that I'll be leaving earlier, does it?"

Although still watching Ashley, Uncle Vernon nodded. "You do understand that you won't be returning again?"

"Of course," he replied. Uncle Vernon nodded, and turned around, returning to the living room. Harry turned on his heel, and swiftly went up the stairs. He felt Ashley right behind him, and once entering his own bedroom, began to laugh.

Ashley joined him, but she covered her mouth, trying to snuffle the laugh. "That was really funny. The looks on their faces- classic!" Harry laughed, and sat down on the bed.

She wiped a small tear from her cheek, still grinning widely. "Let's pack, so we can get out of here faster- I don't think I could pull of this entire 'my girlfriend's vacation house' much longer…" Harry grinned and kicked open his trunk.

Ashley grabbed a pile of robes, and shoved them into the trunk while Harry dug his books out from the loose floorboard under his bed. He placed them in the left side, and swiftly beginning to fold up his pants. Ashley stood up, and said, "Why are we even _folding?_ This is much faster-" she began to point to different clothes, which began to fold themselves.

In a few minutes, all of Harry's possessions had been folded and shoved into his trunk. "Are you allowed to use magic?" he asked her as he erected the large trunk.

"Well, it's not the same magic that you do, 'cause us Blackwells don't need to use wands. I can't really explain it, but you won't get in trouble for it, our magic can't be traced or detected." Ashley picked up Hedwig's cage, and as if on queue, Hedwig flew into the bedroom. Ashley grinned, and held out her arm. Hedwig jumped on, and let Ashley place her into her cage. She carefully closed the door of the cage, and slowly carried the cage towards the door. "Let's go."

Harry nodded, and began to drag his monumentally heavy trunk towards the stairs. Ashley picked up the other end, and they carefully went down the stairs. "Goodbye!" Harry cried out to the house, relieved to finally be leaving the place that had given him nothing but painful memories. Before he could leave, however, Ashley stopped him.

"This is the last time you'll be seeing them in a long time, Harry. Give them a proper good-bye." Harry sighed, and walked into the living room.

The Dursleys sat there, very quiet. They'd obviously either been waiting for him to leave or were still getting over Ashley's uninvited appearance.

"Well... good-bye," Harry said. Uncle Vernon nodded, and Aunt Petunia watched him through wide eyes.

"Good-bye," they both answered. Harry nodded, and made to leave the room.

"Wait," he heard Dudley say. Harry turned, surprised to hear Dudley. "Thanks for... everything. Saving my life, I mean."

Harry blinked. "Anytime," Dudley nodded, and looked away. Feeling uncomfortable, Harry finally headed to the door, Ashley waiting patiently.

Ashley smiled, and they slowly walked back to the park bench. Harry was pondering Dudley's strangely kind farewell, until Ashley flipped her cellphone out again, interrupting his thoughts. "We've got five minutes before two thirty. Andy's always early, so we shouldn't have to wait long."

"Who's Andy?" Harry asked, adjusting his suitcase between his legs.

"He's one of my older brothers. I've got a lot of siblings." Ashley smiled, looking down the road.

"Really, how many-?" he was interrupted, for Ashley had just jumped from the bench, a black SUV with flames approaching them. Ashley walked up to it, and opened the back door.


	2. The FlameStridden SUV

Hi... WARNING: Ron and Hermione shippiness ahead. Harry meets some of Ashley's siblings in the coolest car EVER.

Disclaimer for the sake of disclaiming…: All Blackwells belong to me. All harry potter characters belong to JK Rowling, and all lyrics belong to musicians. Not me.

_-------_

Harry stared in surprise- all the people in the car resembled Ashley strikingly. Three tall blond boys smiled at him and two girls who looked exactly like Ashley moved forward in the back chair, and grinned at them. "C'mon, Harry, get in," Ashley said as she placed Hedwig's cage and his large suitcase in the back.

Ashley pulled Harry into the back seat with the two other girls, and began introducing them. "This is Mary Kate or Mary Jane, we call her Katie..." The girl sitting next to Ashley smiled at Harry. Katie's hair a little curlier than Ashley's, but they looked alike otherwise. "And this is Kim..." The other girl smiled, too- Kim had straighter hair than Ashley, and it fell in front of her face elegantly. "This is Todd, Josh, and Artemis-" Todd seemed taller and more aggressive than his siblings, but he grinned at Harry quite warmly. Josh had long blond hair, and he grinned, too. The boy sitting next to them, who was Artemis, had blue hair and many piercings; he blinked at Harry, then gave him a small smile. "Up in the front's Andy-" An older looking boy in the driver's seat turned around and smiled at Harry. "And finally, this is Hannah," a girl sitting next to Andy turned around, too, and grinned at Harry.

They all grinned at him expectantly. Harry then nervously asked, "Are these all your siblings, Ashley...?"

"Yeah, our family's pretty big," Josh answered instead of Ashley.

"There's a lot of us," Todd added. "It can get sort of hectic sometimes, but it's cool."

"Who are we picking up next, Andy?" Ashley asked.

Andy looked forward as they drove through the streets. "Hermione lives closer, so we'll pick her and her family up..."

"We're picking up her parents, too?" Harry asked. He'd never met them personally before.

Artemis had been staring at Harry curiously for the past few minutes. He quietly spoke up, "We have to- Voldemort's already figured out that he can get to you through your friends and their families, so we invited them to stay with us for their own safety."

Harry stared back at him. "That's really good."

"If we didn't take these precautions, her parents could be killed," Artemis answered, he turned back to the front, and stared out the window.

Todd and Josh walked over Artemis and sat down next to Harry as the back seat expanded. The girls began to talk quickly and excitedly within themselves in French, occasionally glancing at Harry and giggling. Todd turned to Harry, and said, "So... what's up?"

"Pardon?" Harry said. He had been watching the girls, but snapped back into reality.

Josh laughed, and Todd said. "Well, not only have you been staring at Ashley for the past, like, three minutes, you seem pretty surprised about something. Oh, don't worry about Arty. He's always like that. Actually, I think he likes you. Don't worry, he's really just a big softie," Todd smirked at Harry's look of fright as Artemis stared at him for a few seconds. Artemis rolled his eyes at Todd's comment, and leaned back on the front seat as he looked out the window.

"We're here, guys," Andy said. Harry looked out the window. Hermione's house, like the Dursley's, had an utopian look to it with the surrounding houses, expect hers had a beautiful garden outside. "Wanna go get her, Harry?"

"Uh, sure," Harry said. He got out of the car, and walked up to the house. He rung the doorbell, and waited.

The door opened, and Hermione stuck out her head. The worried frown she had been wearing disappeared, and she grinned at Harry as she opened the door wider. "Hi, Harry, I wasn't expecting you. A worried face came over her features. "Are you safe? Do you need to come inside?"

"Hi, Hermione, and no, I'm totally fine. Weren't the Blackwells going to pick you up?" Harry said, signaling to the SUV.

"Oh- yeah. I'll go get my stuff," She disappeared behind her door. She came out a few seconds later dragging her Hogwarts trunk and a few other bags. Her parents followed soon after, carrying their own bags. Todd came out of the car and opened the back trunk, taking Hermione's trunks and placing them in. Harry noticed Hermione blushed slightly when Todd grinned widely at her.

Todd opened the back door, and led in Hermione and her parents. Harry noticed the car had internally expanded to fit in four more long seats and open space in the middle while the outside of the car looked the same. Harry climbed in, following the Grangers.

Ashley stuck her head out a door that had suddenly appeared. "It's getting sort of crowded, so we're gonna hang out back here. C'mon," Harry went in, and sat down on a blue beanbag.

The room was brightly lit, and it was filled with comfortable and colorful couches and bright lamps. An orange and purple rug lay on the floor, and blindly colored posters hung on the walls. Ashley and her siblings were sitting around, and when they caught sight of Hermione, Ashley and her sisters sprung up, after, of course, introducing everyone.

"Oh, Hermione, let's give you a make-over!" Kim said. Hermione was shocked at first, but then smiled back shyly.

Kim walked over, and looked her over. "You know, if we brush you hair, and add some tasteful bows and a vintage touch here and there, you'll look absolutely breath-catching," She began to circle Hermione as her sisters watched. "You have very nice eyebrows, and some mascara can bring out your eyes more... You lips are nice and full, they look so healthy! Some lip gloss would look awesome there... If we give you some really sheer blush and eyeshadow, we can pull off some bright red lipstick..."

Looking harassed, Hermione asked nervously, "Why do you want to give me a make-over?"

"Well, Hermione, you are very, _very_ pretty, but we can bring it out even more with a little make-up and some nice clothing... we have an entire hour to kill, and in these times of pain and war, moments like these, were we can have care-free fun are invaluable. And anyways, don't you wanna look good for Ron? No guy in his right mind can resist a extra-low back, body-hugging red dress, and that includes him..." Kim grinned mischievously as Hermione blushed scarlet and crossed her arms.

"Oh, all right..." Hermione smiled, and Kim led her into another room as she told her various fashion tips and styles.

Harry looked around the room again. "This is quite nice," Todd nodded, and looked down.

"Why don't we put on some music? This is boring..." Todd asked. He pulled out a sleek, white rectangular object with a square screen and a circle that had an arrow on the top, two arrows facing right on the right, two arrows facing left on the left, and a small square at the bottom of the circle. He pressed a few buttons, and placed in into a speaker-like object.

A drum solo began the song, and a boy with a high and raspy voice began to sing. _Go ahead as you waste your days with thinkin'..._

"What band is this?" Harry asked. _Hands are shaking cold, these hands are meant to hold..._ "I don't remember, but they're kind of good, aren't they!' answered Todd. Harry nodded. _And even when your hope is gone, move along, move along, just to make it through..._

A new song began with a man that had a raspy voice singing. _It's a new world, it's a new start, it's alive with the beating of... young hearts! It's a new day, with a new plan, I've been waiting for you... Here I am..._

_----_

Ron picked up his bag from the ground, and looked out over the road. His dad said that some new members of the Order, the Blackwells, were coming to pick them up and had invited them to spend the summer with them. His dad was extremely excited, as they lived part of their lives as Muggles and he wanted to find out everything. His mother, though, wanted to visit them because they had offered to hold Bill and Fleur's wedding free of charge. More importantly, though, they promised safety from Voldemort, and his parents trusted them completely. Ron, honestly, was looking forward to spending the summer with Harry and especially Hermione someplace elsewhere than the Burrow or the Headquarters, possibly somewhere where he and Hermione could have a few more private moments.

Ever since returning from his sixth year at Hogwarts, Ron had been haunted by dreams, many of which involved a... not-so-innocent Hermione. He knew he didn't have time for this- there was a war going on, and Harry and Hermione needed his support. Nevertheless, he couldn't stop the yearnings to be with Hermione. He wasn't sure why, but sometimes, when he was alone in his room and thinking about Hermione, he lost himself in some really nice, comforting memories involving the two of them, and hoped for the day when he could hold her in his arms and call her his own, safe from Vodlemort.

Soon enough, a black truck-like car with flames painted on its side drove up, and after they climbed in, Ron and Ginny were led into a brightly colored room, and they sat down next to Harry.

"Hey, Ron," Ron grinned back at Harry, and looked around worriedly.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked as he fixed a loose strand of hair absentmindedly.

Harry looked at him, curious. "Why do you care?"

Ron blushed, and crossing his arms, answered quickly. "I don't- I was just wondering..."

Harry rolled his eyes, and Ron shifted his attention to the conversation Todd and his brothers were having with Ginny over which band sung better from the one they were listening to compared to the Weird Sisters.

"This is really lame," said Ginny. _I beg to dream and differ from the their hollowed eyes... This is the timing of the rest of our lives...! On holiday!_

"This song is a classic! How could you not like it!" replied Todd. Josh nodded vigorously as Artemis watched them argue with a bored expression.

"The guys sounds like he's drunk! You call that music!" Harry laughed, and Ginny turned to him. "Aren't they horrible?"

"Actually, I like this song," Harry smiled. Ginny rolled her eyes, and turned back to Todd. Ron noticed for a moment that Harry's gaze lingered on Ginny's face. "What do you think, Ron? Ron...?"

Ron payed no attention to him. He felt his jaw drop open, but did nothing to attempt to close it. _Holy shit..._

Harry turned to look at what Ron was staring at, and his eyes widened in shock.

Was that... Hermione? Hermione didn't look like that...No ,wait, it was Hermione. She grinned at Ron, and he recognized her smile. She wore a flowing white shirt with a V-neck and a dark magenta border reaching to her hips, and atop that a shorter gray structured jacket reaching halfway down her stomach. Below that she had black footless tights and a pair of dark purple peep-toe heels with an inconspicuous pump and a short wrap around her ankle. Her hair was in an elegant bun, with a long curly bang down the side of her face and a butterfly barrette holding it up.

Ron had never noticed before, but Hermione was delicately curved, like a glass sculpture of a beautiful woman. He suspected the absence of baggy robes and a huge amounts of books weighing her down finally let them show. Nonetheless, Ron was dumbfounded- Hermione looked absolutely stunning, and he couldn't help but feel surprised. Since when had he thought of Hermione as 'beautiful'? He hadn't, expect during the Yule Ball- he had been shocked then, but it was nothing compared to this. Ron wondered... what exactly was beautiful about Hermione? She had stopped growing around the middle of the fifth year- had she changed? _Or have I?_

Kim followed her out of the room, and held her arms out, presenting Hermione. "What do you think, guys?"

Ashley sat down next to Ron. She looked at him, and with an almost pitying look on her face, pushed his chin up. He closed his mouth abruptly, and glanced at Ashley quickly, and went back to gawking over Hermione. Harry turned to Hermione, and with a friendly smile, said, "You look great, Hermione."

Hermione grinned, and turned to Ron. Ron felt a peculiar sensation in his lower stomach, his brain jammed. He blushed redder, and opened his mouth to say something. Instead, he rushed to the nearest open container (which happened to be a filled flower vase) and vomited. A look of disgust filled Hermione's face, and she walked away and sat down next to Katie sadly and buried her face in her hands.

Todd, sensing trouble, led a shaking and pale Ron into the bathroom. Feeling horrible, Ron let himself be led into the bathroom, Harry following them closely.

Ron leaned over the sink, and splashed some water onto his face. He groaned, and rubbed his eyes. Todd patted his back and gave him a few words of comfort; "It's okay, dude, don't worry about it..."

"How can I not?" Ron sniffed, and leaned his face on his hands as he sat down on the toilet seat, his chest aching. "I can't even talk to her without imagining us... you know..." An image he had enjoyed thinking about over the summer of Hermione came into his mind, and he pushed it out, feeling embarrassed.

Harry sat down on the sink, and rubbed Ron's back. Todd crouched down, and whispered, "Really, don't worry about it... 'no better way to tell a girl she looks hot by throwing up after looking at her, Ron."

"What are you talking about? She probably thinks that I think she looks ugly..." Ron's voice was muffled, and he tried to not sound desperate while he had never felt so torn in his life like this.

"You don't, and that's what matters..." Ron groaned, and began to massage his temples. "I know how to make this all better, Ron," Ron looked up at Todd, his eyes puffy. "Spill the beans, c'mon, tell us absolutely everything."

"I don't want to... just leave me alone..." Ron groaned and buried his face again.

"Ron, sometimes things come to us in life that we really don't wanna deal with, but we've got to. This is one of those things," Ron looked up at Todd. Todd gave him a small smile, and continued. "No guy should ever have to talk about his feelings, I'll tell you that. But, Ron, if you don't talk about it, it's gonna get worse. Talking about it helps you, like, sort out your thoughts, and calm down. If you don't, Hermione's gonna keep haunting you, and you'll never manage to gather up all the courage you need to ask her out, or maybe even to tell her what's going on in your head. Don't blow your chance at a real relationship, and don't worry, Harry and I'll keep your secret," Ron was quiet for a few seconds, thinking about Todd's words, then straightened up.

"I don't know where to start," he said.

Todd sat down on the floor, and looked up at him. "The beginning. When did it all start?"

"Umm... I don't really know..."

"What about the Yule Ball?" Harry asked. "Don't try to tell us you weren't jealous."

Ron massaged his temples again. "I wasn't jealous... "

Todd snorted, and said incredulously, "Of course... you weren't jealous, and I invented microwave popcorn and condoms that year, too."

Ron ignored him, wondering what 'meecrovave plop-cord' was, and kept staring down. He felt Todd and Harry watching closely, and finally gave in; "I don't think I can explain how I felt... I guess I was just shocked that Hermione actually had someone crushing on her... it always felt like Harry and I were the only boys in her life, and the only ones she would ever hang out with... it was so strange to see her with Krum... how could she have gotten someone like him...? An older guy who was an international Quidditch player... And I didn't really expect her to refuse to go with either of us..." Ron let his thoughts translate into words blindly, unaware of what he was telling Harry and Todd.

"But would you have felt any different if Hermione had gone with someone who wasn't you or Harry?" Todd asked. Ron paused, and said nothing. "Were you really 'surprised', or were you... jealous?"

Ron shook his head violently. "No, I wasn't... it just surprised me..."

Todd stood up, and said firmly. "Ron- stop fidgeting. Just stop, and look back... right then, when you watched Krum and Hermione dance, how did you feel? How do you feel now, thinking back?"

Ron paused, and thought... "N-no... I... I don't know..." He remembered, sitting on the table, and as he watched them... his heart sped up, his brain jammed, and the only thing he could think of was his hate toward Krum. But- it was _Hermione_... she wasn't the type to constantly date and flirt with boys... but then she had pushed him away, and gone with some idiot... "I... I guess I-I was... a little..."

"Good. Now that that's out, answer the other question... how do you feel about it now?" Todd asked, rubbing Ron's back, too.

"Well... part of me still doesn't want to accept it, and still hates Krum... but the other part says 'why not'..." Ron mumbled, not believing he just said that.

"Why not what?" asked Harry calmly.

"...why not like her, it thought... why not take her to a ball... and... why not feel jealous... I guess I never saw Hermione like that, and I couldn't handle it when someone else saw her like that and she left me..." Ron whispered, feeling a little relieved.

"YES, yes, Ron, now where're getting somewhere!" Todd said excitedly with a grin. Ron couldn't hold back a smile, and looked up at him and Harry. "Now, one more thing for now... when I say 'Hermione', what comes to mind? What memory, what picture, if any...?"

Ron drew breath, and remembered as he talked quietly of the experience...

_After discussing Dobby and Kreacher's reports on Malfoy, Harry went up to bed, leaving Ron and Hermione alone in the common room. Ron was looking over the essay Hermione had just fixed after he spilled ink all over it. He looked up, and saw her picking up some textbooks off the floor. _

"_I'll be right back, okay, Hermione?" Ron told her as he got up. She looked up at him and nodded with a small smile._

_A bathroom break later, Ron walked down the stairs of the boy's dormitory. He heard voices, and stopped. _

"… _I don't know what you're talking about, Lavender," Ron heard Hermione say nervously._

"_Don't you say that to me- you know what you've done," he heard an angry Lavender say. "Ever since you came into the picture and tried to steal Ron from me, our relationship fell apart. I like him, and he likes me too, and if you do anything to make this any worse, you'll pay."_

_Ron heard Hermione whimper softly, "Really, Lavender, I don't know what you're talking about…"_

"_Please. Ever since we started dating, you couldn't help but be jealous. You've made Ron mad, and we lost our connection. If you just stayed away, we'd still be as happy as we were before. You're an annoying bitch who has nothing better to do with her life but ruin other people's relationships! Now you stay away from my Won-Won!" Ron heard someone stomp up the girls' dormitories, and a door slam shut. Everything was quiet until he heard someone start to cry. _

_He walked slowly down the stairs, and saw Hermione crying into her hands. He slowly walked to her, and sat down next to her. No-one said anything for a few seconds. Ron slowly reached out, and placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder. She jumped and looked up, turning to him._

"_Ron... d-do you think I'm annoying?" she asked through tears._

"_Annoying how?" Ron replied softly. "It depends."_

_She sniffed, and as she tried to stop crying, she said, "Well, I-I know that sometimes y-you and Harry get mad at me f-for telling you to do y-your homework or t-to behave..."_

_Ron gave her a small smile and replied sweetly, "You do do that a lot, but if you didn't, Harry and me would've been kicked out of Hogwarts four years ago for setting the Great Hall on fire and murdering Malfoy and Snape..." Hermione laughed, and dried away a tear."The only time I ever found you really annoying was our first year during our Wingardium Leviosa lesson in Charms until I figured out you were trying to help. Whoever told you that doesn't know what they're talking about."_

_Hermione gave him a watery smile, and wiped off her cheeks. "When I was in Muggle school, kids didn't really like me. I started being a smart-ass when I was six, and apparently, I still am..." Ron laughed as she smiled. "I had a cousin, and she was thirteen and I was eight, and I used to think she was the most admirable person I'd ever met. She was pretty, she had a lot of friends, and she got everything she wanted. At first, she didn't mind me hanging around when she was with her friends. Then, one day, I went outside to ask her to play tea-party with me. She was talking to some boys in our neighborhood, some of which were fifteen or fourteen. She turned to me and she said, 'Go away, you annoying brat. Go play with your stupid dolls somewhere else.' I ran home, and cried. The next day, she and her family moved away and I threw away all my dolls and 'stupid' toys..."_

_Ron watched her sympathetically as Hermione crossed her legs on the sofa. She rubbed her eye, and began to talk again, "When I was eleven, a few months before I got my Hogwarts letter, my Muggle class went on a field trip to the park. I had just moved there, and I didn't know anyone. I brought a platter of cookies, and a jumping rope to the trip for the picnic we would have afterwards. After the trip, the class sat down for lunch. There were a group of girls sitting aside talking to each other, and they seemed nice, so I went over with my cookies. I walked up to them and asked if I could sit with them and share my cookies. One of them looked at me and said, 'We aren't friends with annoying nerds. And especially ones like you.' She stood up, knocked over my cookies, and the entire groups stood up and walked away, glancing at me and laughing. I walked away, and cried under a tree until the picnic ended. It's odd... I haven't been called annoying since then..."_

_She looked up and smiled at Ron. He smiled back, and sticking one leg under another, began: "The only time I was ever called annoying was when I was three. Fred and George were playing with some garden gnomes, throwing rocks at them and stuff, when I came out with my teddy bear to see if I could play, too. I picked up a rock, and threw it at a gnome. I missed, so I picked up another rock and threw it. This one hit Fred... he turned around and said, 'Go away, you're so annoying!' Then he turned my teddy bear into a spider, and I ran into the house scared half to death..." Hermione laughed, and watched Ron as he continued. "I don't really know why people find you so annoying. I guess maybe because you're smart and like to show it..."_

_Hermione shrugged. "I don't really care anymore. But you don't think I'm annoying, do you?" Ron shook his head and smiled. Hermione grinned and gathered up her textbooks. Ron stood up, stretched his arms, and picked up his essay and D.A.D.A. textbook. He followed Hermione slowly as she began to ascend the girls' staircase. _

"_Ron?" He turned to Hermione again. She walked up to him. She blushed, and looked up to him._

"_Thanks."_

_She hurried up the girls' staircase, seeming a bit embarrassed. Ron walked up to the boy's dormitories and fell asleep with a smile. _

Ron finished, and looked up at the two boys.

"Oh, how sweet. Don't tell that to my sisters, they'll start squealing and... yeah, just don't tell them," Ron smiled, and crossed his arms. "Is that all that you picture with her mention?"

Ron blushed, and answered, "Well..." Todd laughed at his implication, and looked down at his shoes.

Harry took the opportunity to speak up, and said, "Ron, are you ready to go back out now?"

Ron leaned his forehead on his hand, and mumbled, "No... can't I just stay in this room for the rest of eternity and never have to face Hermione again...?"

"C'mon, dude, how're you supposed to ask her out and snog her lips off in this lame excuse for a bathroom? Anyhow, I bet my sisters are just itching to give you a make-over, too," Todd said encouragingly. He laughed at the look on Ron's face, and said, "Trust me, dude, you need one."

Todd pushed the door open, and dragged Ron out. Thankfully, Hermione wasn't in the room, and he sat back down on the couch, wondering what he could say to her. Harry sat down next to him, leaned over, and whispered, "At least this has a good side- you'll be stuck in some claustrophobic room with three fit babes dressing you," Ron grinned, and settled back on the couch.

0000

"Oh, Hermione, please, don't worry about it..." Katie said as she brushed through Hermione' hair. Hermione stared down at the floor, sadly re-living the last three minutes.

She had come out of the room, dressed quite fabulously and feeling beyond confident with herself, expecting to be complimented on her new look; she was also half-hoping Ron would spare one look at her, experience some extreme love-at-first-sight, pounce of her, admit his undying love to her, and then whisk her off to do some serious snogging. She had not expected, though, for Ron to stare at her with a sick expression on his face and then throw up into a nearby flower vase.

Hermione tried to not cry, but a small tear separated itself from her eye. "I just thought he liked me... guys that like you don't barf when they see y-your new look..." Ashley went up to her, and wrapped her arms around Hermione.

"He does like you, Hermione... You see, when you came out, you looked so absolutely stunning and breath-catching that Ron lost his breath, and as he tried to tell you how astonishingly amazing you looked and how his amorality was flaring up, the butterflies in his stomach shook so badly they caused him to barf. Really, Hermione, he does like you. Personally, I think of it as a great compliment to be barfed at," Hermione grinned against her will, slightly thankful for Ashley's humor. Ashley stepped back, and smiled at her warmly.

"Wanna try that again?" Hermione nodded as Ashley continued. "All right. Are you ready to _really_ rock Ronald's world?" Hermione nodded again with a grin. Ashley smiled, and took out a dress from the closet.

"This one will make you hotter than the goddess Aphrodite herself," Ashley straightened it out, and held it before her over-exaggeratedly. It was the same dress Kim had described before- a super low bare-back blood red dress which separated into two parts at the chest, and tied up at the neck, leaving much space for cleavage.

Five minutes and many strangely-placed zippers later, Hermione stood in front of the mirror admiring herself. The dress made her look amazing- it gave her curves she had never even imagined having before. "C'mon, Hermione, we need to do your hair."

Hermione sat down on the spinning chair, and Kim pulled out a flat pincer-like object with _Blackwell_ written on the side. "Why don't we straighten your hair? That'll knock Ron's socks to Jupiter..." Hermione nodded, and sat back. Kim took a bushy strand of hair, pressed it between the object, and pulled it down, going through all of the strand. About ten minutes later, Kim stopped, and turned Hermione to the mirror.

Hermione mouth fell open. Why had she never done this before? Straight hair made her look thin, elegant, and gorgeous. It fell over her face gracefully, and it had big, soft curls that joined the huge bushel of hair together at the back. "Wow... Hermione and straight hair go like strawberries and cream..."

Kim watched her for a second, then turned Hermione to her again. "The thing with these dresses is you can't wear your hair down. What we can do, though, is this..."

Kim took most of Hermione's hair, expect for a long, wavy strand, and slowly put it up in an elegant bun. The strand she held up at the side of her face with a heart-shaped barrette. "Now, for make-up..." Katie took some sheer blush, one which had the same skin-tone as Hermione, and covered her face with it ("We're not gonna make you look like a clown!"). She then took some light pink blush and placed a bit on her cheeks ("It should be the exact same color as your face after running two miles."). Ashley walked over, and applied grey and bronze eyeshadow, and added thick mascara ("Gives you the I'm-too-hot-for-you look..."). "For the last touch, the lips..." She then applied some salmon lip gloss on Hermione;("For the shine and snogging, ya know?"). To finish Hermione's make-over, Ashley got out a pair of long, silver earrings, and carefully adjusted them onto Hermione's ears.

"You look amazing, Hermione," Kim stepped back with her sisters, and the looked Hermione over. Hermione, stood up and walked over to the mirror and examined herself.

Hermione was dumbfounded. In all her life, she had never considered herself beautiful; she often argued against her wish for Ron to love her with a '_Why would he love an ugly, boring bookworm like me?'_, but right now, that was the last thing on her mind. The dress gave her _curves_, curves that she had dreamed of having in her most intimate dreams which often included a very Romantic (! Ron, making even more impossible than it was already. In this dress, Hermione looked tall, collected, smooth, and as Kim liked to say, _hot_… She no longer saw tired bangs under her eyes, or the acne puberty brought along- her face looked fresh, relieved and natural, except for her lips… before, they were chapped and dried up, but now they looked moist, full, and completely kissable. A glorious image came into her mind- Ron leaning to kiss her, whispering what every girl wanted to hear from the love of her life…

"Hermione?" she heard Ashley's voice far-off. "You still have to put on shoes… how do you like these?" She held out a teeny pair of slim heels. She helped Hermione put them on, carefully doing up the laces that curved around her leg. Hermione wobbled in the sandals, and held onto Katie's shoulder to keep her balance.

"They look good, but I can't walk, let alone stand, in them," Hermione said as she tried to take a few steps. She staggered, and fell, Ashley catching her.

"Don't worry about it- Ron'll have fallen at your feet by then , he'll break your fall," Ashley grinned, and pushed Hermione back up. "Ready?" Hermione nodded, and straightening her dress, began to walk toward the door.

Katie walked out before her, and Hermione heard her announce, "Lady and gentlemen… may I, if I may, introduce our very own Hermione, sporting the hottest look right now- Dressed to Kill!"

"Go!" Ashley gave Hermione a push out the door.

A platform had appeared from nowhere, and bright lights blinded her as she slowly walked across toward Katie's voice. "Smile, Hermione! C'mon, show us what modeling _really_ is!" Hermione grinned, and walked up to the end of the platform.

Katie and her sisters stood at the bottom, and Ashley struck a pose in the darkness. She threw her head to the left, brought her left hand to her breast, and placed her right hand over her head, her hand caressing the back of her neck. Hermione mirrored the pose. Ashley pointed to her face, signaling Hermione to have a slightly quizzical expression, with her eyebrows cocked, and have a slight smile. Hermione struck the pose, and saw Katie take a few pictures of her.

Hermione turned her attention to Kim, who also struck a pose; she leaned forward, pushed her left shoulder out, placing her left hand upon it, and turned her head a bit to the left. Hermione mimicked it and her expression as Katie snapped more pictures. Katie signaled her down the stage, and Hermione staggered down the steps.

"That was great, Hermione! My sister's quite a famous fashion designer, and she loves to use everyday people to model her work. She's be thrilled to use you," Ashley said brightly. Hermione grinned as she continued, "You're a great model, did you know?"

"Thanks," Hermione answered, and turned to the boys. Harry stood up, and walked over.

"That was great, Hermione- you look awesome in that dress," she grinned as Todd and his brothers walked over and complimented her as well.

Hermione turned to go talk to Ron, but jumped when she saw him right in front of her. He blushed, and stepped back. She smiled brightly, and he tried to smile back, and stuttered, "Y-you look- I mean, you, uh… th-that dress looks absolutely s-stunning on y-you, Hermione… s-sorry about b-before, I, um…" he became quiet, and blushed bright red. Hermione grinned, and blushed a little, too.

"Ron, Hermione- c'mon, let's get you both back into casual clothes, 'cause we're about to arrive!"

**Songs are- Move Along by the All-American Rejects and Here I Am by Bryan Adams**

**So much fluffiness!**

**BTW, Todd is NOT gay. Alright? He's just very understanding and a bit metro-sexual (has girl-like qualities). **


	3. The EXPLANATION

This chapter gives major plot information. Read carefully and fully for full understanding!

Once Ashley and company had finished dressing Ron and Hermione, they were dressed so: Ron wore loose jeans that hung low on his waist with a snug dark blue tee shirt and lean blue and white sneakers; Hermione had her previous outfit, except her hair still straight and she wore black flats instead of the heels. Ginny had been swiftly put into a black V-neck sweater atop a pink tank top, jean trousers with a fold on the end above her knee, and a pair of black sleek sneakers with a fold over the ankle, which Todd called 'Cons'. Ashley had talked Harry into wearing some (slightly too) snug jeans and a dark green polo shirt with a small crocodile on the left breast. Harry thought they all looked quite nice excluding the fact he'd have to get used to his jeans.

The Blackwells helped all their guests out of the car, and handed them their bags. They then led the way up a concrete path to their home. Harry looked up at their home in awe; it was amazing. The main color was a dark ivory with a jungle green outlining the borders of large windows and coloring the roof tiles. The more shocking part was the sheer size of the home, being at least three floors high and very wide. The Blackwells must be very well off, he thought. Approaching the entrance, he saw an inscription above the door; _Veni, Vidi, et Vinci_, which had a crest under it of something that looked like a phoenix and a dragon. He looked forward, seeing as they had arrived at the entrance already.

Todd pushed open the door, and he and his siblings went up a large set of marble stairs, much like the one at Hogwarts. An older woman slightly resembling the kids showed up at the top. The woman grinned, and said happily, "Welcome! My name's Annabelle, or, if you wish, Mrs. Blackwell. We're all so happy to have you here!" She walked down the stairs, and stood in front of the group. Her children disappeared up the stairs as she looked around at them. Her gaze fell to Harry, and then she asked, "Oh, Harry, Ashley told me what she'd told you. In fact, I think now is an excellent time to fill you all in, and tell you why you're here and exactly what this all about. Come! Wait, leave your bags here, we'll bring them up to your rooms later," The group put their bags in a bunch by the door, and walked toward Mrs. Blackwell. She turned around, and walked through a pair of doors situated on the left of the stairs. The group followed nervously, wondering what was in store for them.

Mrs. Blackwell opened another set of doors, and led them into a business-like room with rising seats and table surrounding a large desk and two chairs. "Sit, if you will," she asked as she pulled out a slim silver object, flicked it open, and talked into it. "William, I need you in the meeting room."

Harry, followed by Ron and Hermione, sat in the front, closest to where Mrs. Blackwell had seated herself at the desk. A few seconds later, a blonde man slightly resembling Mrs. Blackwell walked into the room and sat next to her. He smiled at them as Mrs. Blackwell shuffled her seat closer to the desk, turning to the group.

"This I'm going to say is mostly for Harry, but listen if you want," she shifted her gaze to Harry. "Now, Harry, this all begins with one person, or more accurately, a sort of creator of the universe. This ruler is Fate. God, or whatever people want to call It. Now, Fate watches over everything. Fate is the past, present, and future. It decides everything that happens and will happen.

"Now, one day, Fate decided, 'hey, this is boring, let's make a world with little beings ruling themselves.' So Fate created Earth... the world developed, and eventually, the first people came along, and with them, the first wizard, and first signs of magic. Fate was again, bored, and decided to spice things up a bit. The first wizard had the problem of having Fate decide against him. Now, Fate knew that It would change Its mind, and decide to keep the wizard alive.

"Now things get confusing... as It had first decided, Fate killed the wizard. Then, because It knew It would, Fate reversed time, and gave the wizard enough sense to move out of the way. The problem was, the first time when It had decided to kill the wizard, life continued with magic gone from Earth and the wizard still alive from after Fate had saved him. And because Fate controls all, it made two worlds, two dimensions. One, in which Earth developed with magic. And another without. So Fate sat back, and watched these two worlds develop on their own..."

Mrs. Blackwell paused and looked at the children, who gaped aback at her. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Harry paused for a second, then nodded. She smiled, and her husband pitched up.

"Another thing- Fate does know everything, but It creates prophecies to... Well, prophecies are ways that Fate tells her worlds of what she is planning to do or what might happen. To Fate, a prophecy is like a Post-It, a reminder of what will happen... to the people on the Earths, it is Its way of warning them. Some prophecies, like the one Professor Trewalney made in your third year, for example, are just ways of telling people of what will happen. Others, like the one made about you and Voldemort, warn people. As Dumbledore told you, the only way the prophecy would have come true is if Voldemort made it so. Fate, of course, knows what will happen, but at least gives us some knowing of what outcomes are possible.

"Long ago, about a thousand years after the first wizard, a prophecy was made. It was told in an ancient language, but we know what it says. Translated simply, it says: 'In the world where magic is the basis of life, and when it is misused by one who seeks power, a war will break out. Lives will be lost, and at times, all hope will seem lost. The one who is able to stop this, the one who has been marked as an equal to the destroyer of our good, will not be able to do it alone. The magical family who has, and will always, know the ways of Fate and how to control it, will arise from the mist, and attempt to help him destroy this evil. They will be the only connection that this magical world has to the non-magical one. In this battle and this war, a lesson will be learned. It will be the lesson that both worlds must learn, and in order for the non-magical to do so, it must learn the story of the War and the One-Who-Lived. In the non-magical world, a messenger will send out the call. She will tell her world of the War, and of the lesson it gives. If both worlds learn from this and put it to good use, the War will be as if it had never happened, and it will not again.'"

Silence answered this speech, and the Weasleys, Grangers and Harry stared at the Blackwell couple. "What does that prophecy mean, Harry?"

He opened his mouth, and closed it again, his brain attempting to understand what they had just said. Hermione quietly spoke up, and whispered, "So... it says that... someone who wants to rule the world will take over... and the person who can stop him... needs help from a wizarding family who... connects both worlds... and the war that arises teaches a lesson... and for the other world to learn it... someone tells the story...?"

Mrs. Blackwell smiled, and nodded. "Now put it all together. Fit in names, whatever."

This time, Ron spoke up. "Is this 'destroyer of our good'... V-Voldemort?" Mr. Blackwell nodded softly.

Understanding finally came to Harry. "So I'm the one who tries to stop him, and I can't so... you come to help?" A wide grin spread over Mrs. Blackwell's face.

"So the portals Ashley says you make- they link to here?" Harry said. Mr. Blackwell nodded.

"And... wait, but who's the 'messenger'?" Hermione asked.

Mrs. Blackwell grinned mischievously, and said, "Hasn't Ashley already told you?" She reached under the table, and placed a collection of books on the table.

Harry gasped, and stood up automatically. He walked toward the table, and stared at all of the books.

The cover was tinged blue, and in large, crooked blue letters on the top said, _Harry Potter_. Under it in smoky writing read, _and the Order of the Phoenix_. A drawing of a pale boy with black, unruly hair, round glasses, a long nose, and thin lips wearing robes and holding a wand tightly sat in the center. Candles stood next to him, and three open doors filled the background, each opening as the room seemed to spin around him. Under the boy, in blue letters as well, read _J.K. Rowling._ "Wow…" he heard himself mumble.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione, and held out the book to them. Mrs. Blackwell stood up, and walked over to him, and said, "That's the message. And she's the messenger. She told the non-magical world your story," she said calmly with a smile. She led his to his chair, and sat him down in it. "Fortunately, the prophecy is coming true. People in the nonmagical world have fallen in love with your story. It gives them pleasure and sometimes, hope and distraction from the worst to read about this young, normal wizard child who manages to defeat a powerful and evil sorcerer. To read about love, bravery, friendship, and how this little boy defeats evil with them. It's amazing to watch him and his friends grow, and as the evil grows stronger, watching them grow stronger as well. People love it so much, in fact, that they decided to make a movie out of it, and bring the story to real life. They've made extremely successful movies out of these books."

Harry stared back down at the book, and bit his lip. He heard someone walk over to him, and he heard Ron say, "That's sort of cool... Am I in it?"

Mrs. Blackwell laughed, and answered, "Well, what would Harry Potter be without Ronald Weasley or Hermione Granger? Let's see... you both saved him in the first year, third, some in the fourth, the fifth... well, yeah..."

Ron walked over to the table, and picked up a book with a green and purple cover. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood prince? Is this of last year?" he asked turning to Mr. Blackwell. He nodded, and walked over to the rest of the group to answer their questions.

He flipped through it, occasionally laughing, and eventually stopping to read.

"Well, it's about time we give you a tour... shall we go?" Mr. Blackwell asked. The group stood up, chatting among itself, and Mrs. Blackwell led the way out.


	4. The Tour

This chapter is completely unnecessary for the advancement of the plot. We just meet the Blackwells here.

"First, I want to show you the bottom floor in our home. We have various facilities for playing just about every Muggle sport known, and for various sorts of entertainment," Mrs. Blackwell pushed open the door, and they were out in the main hall again. She walked to her right, and said, "This is the living room, where just about everything happens."

Harry smiled as he looked around at the large, white hall. Long, brightly colored couches lined the walls, and a few surrounded a large television, which seemed to be very thin. A large fireplace sat magnificently on the wall, surrounded by comfy armchairs. Above it stood a large, wide painting of a majestic phoenix and a regal purple dragon in a fierce battle. A huge, glimmering chandelier hung carefully in the air above them, sparkling in the bright, white neon lights that lit up the large room. A large, tasteful white and red rug sat in the middle of the room.

A boy sat in one of the couches in front of the large television, on which an odd, squeaky-voiced square yellow thing in brown shorts and a red tie talked to a fat, pink starfish wearing green and purple swimming trunks. '_The carnival's in town, Spongebob!'_ said the pink thing. The yellow square answered, '_Mr. Krabs said those are dangerous, Patrick!_'

The boy turned around, and grinned. "This is Christian, one of my fifteen year-old children," he waved, and turned back to the television. Ron laughed as the pink starfish floated down the screen, his shorts inflated as he cheered.

"Let's continue- into the elevator, everyone!" Mrs. Blackwell pressed a white button on the wall, and a clear, large box slowly floated down until it was in front of them, and the see-through doors opened. Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell walked in, and signaled the group to enter. They nervously packed into it, Ron being pressed against the see-through wall by Hermione. He blushed, and looked out the walls as the elevator slowly began to rise.

Mr. Weasley squealed with excitement, and asked, "How does this contraption work?"

"Invisible ropes and pulleys attached to the highest ceiling pull it up and down. Whenever we press a button, the closest elevator gets there as quickly as possible and takes you where you want to go," Mrs. Blackwell answered brightly as the elevator made a stop on the next floor. Its doors opened, and Mrs. Blackwell led the group out.

She turned to the right, and walked into a room. In it, two rows of sleek white and blue computers sat, and a young girl sat at one of them, large headphones over her ears. "This is the computer lab, where the children come to do homework or other things. And this is Madison, my nine year-old daughter," The girl smiled, and turned back to her computer. "Let's continue…"

Mrs. Blackwell led the group out again, and up the front of another room, one at the end of the hall. She signaled the group over to her, and loud music surged out from an opening on the top of the door.

_I've been looking for the answer, somewhere… I couldn't see that it was right there… _Mrs. Blackwell signaled at a sign on the door which read, **DO NOT ENTER. IF YOU DO, I'LL SKIN YOU AND HANG YOU UP ON THE WALL.** Queerly enough, something which looked oddly like Todd's head hung above the door. "We really shouldn't go in right now… You all know Ashley, right? Well, she has this strange habit… she likes to paint, or do whatever art she does, in her underwear…"

Mrs. Granger looked horrified, and asked, "Why?"

"My kids are quite strange... It's just a hobby she picked up. She says it helps her connect to her art," Mrs. Blackwell shrugged. She nodded to herself, and turned, continuing with the tour as Ashley's song faded away.

_Because you live, girl, my world… has twice as many starts in the sky… _

"We are very fortunate to have what we call '1670 AM Blackwells Live', our very own radio station, where we play music that we all like to listen to," she said as she signaled through the window, where they saw an older boy talking into a microphone, who grinned when he saw the group. "… It seems we have some guests here, so let's give a welcome to the Weasleys, soon -to-be Weasley, the Grangers, and Harry! So just for them, I'm gonna play… 'Tangled Up in Me', by Skye Sweetnam!" He grinned again, and sat back as soft strings began the song. Harry stepped back, and bumped into Ron, who stumbled onto Hermione. He blushed deeply, and turned back to the window. She blushed as well, and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

_You wanna know more, more about me…_

_Gotta know reverse psychology…_

_I'm the reason why you can't get to sleep…_

_I'm the girl you never get, just quite what you see…_

_Hey, Hey, Hey… Could you see I want you by the way I put you 'way, yeah…_

_Don't judge me tomorrow by the way I'm acting today- miss the words of the action, do it all for your reaction, ye-eah…_

_Hey, Hey, Hey… Get tangled up in me…_

"Great! Let's go on…" Mrs. Blackwell said as she rushed the large group to continue. She led them across the hall, and pushed open two neat oaken doors. "This is the library… Full of as many Muggle and wizard books I could get my hands on," she whispered as she grinned at the look of joy on Hermione and Percy's faces.

"And this is where all our pets live; we like to call it 'The Pet's Haunting'…" She looked into a large room through glass, where puppies and kittens rushed around. Counting quickly, Harry saw four large dogs, nine puppies, two cats, and five kittens. They all played with each other atop brightly colored scratching posts, rugs, and fluffy beanbag chairs, which many puppies chewed at, trying to rip into it. He also noticed Crookshanks had already been brought in, and seemed to be having fun chasing a mechanical mouse. "Let's go on…"

"This is the greenhouse," Mrs. Blackwell said as she led them quickly past many colorful plants behind glass. "And this is the Training Hall, where you can practice just about anything… and this is the Meditation Room…" She stopped in front of a door, and opened it.

An older girl, in a complicated position with her balancing on foot while leaning over and touching the other foot to her head, stood in the middle of the room She looked at them, closed her eyes, and slowly placed her hands on the floor, and stood on them for a few seconds, and slowly brought her legs over, and put her feet on the ground. Soft music played, and she gracefully sat down with her legs crossed and continued to do many various painful-seeming positions. "Meet Isabella, she's twenty, and she's very, very flexible, but not as much as Mary-Jane…"

The group turned around, and began to file out. Harry began to walk out, but saw George remain behind, staring at Isabella, his jaw hanging open. Harry slapped his arm, and he blinked, and walked out.

"Thank Mum for bringing us here…" Harry heard him say under his breath as he ran his hand through his hair. Harry laughed, and jogged to catch up with the group.

"… It's what we call the Dream Room, and it's like virtual reality- we can make any environment, any situation by just imagining it. We'll try it out later, but we have a lot to do, so let's keep going…" Mrs. Blackwell stood there for a second, looked around, then led them back down the hall, but turned left after passing the Pet's Haunting. She pushed open another set of beautiful oaken doors, and led the group in.

Loud, deep, fast music filled their ears as they walked into the room. Artemis sat at a large, elegant black piano, his long, graceful fingers dancing over the keys. He looked up at them, and turned back to his sheet of complicated music, no expression on his face. Leaning on the walls were various other instruments, but Artemis was the only one in the room. "Artemis is quite gifted with the piano, and we encourage it greatly… Shall we continue?"

Mrs. Blackwell walked out the room, and continued down the wall. In front of the room they had just left one could look down into the floor below; one could see the large staircase, down into an auditorium, and the bright red tops of a large figure. Hermione gasped, and walked over to the bright red thing. "Is this- a roller coaster?"

Mrs. Blackwell grinned widely, and walked over next to her. "Don't worry, you'll get to ride the Superman later… Let's continue down here…" She pulled Hermione away from the edge, and led the group in front of another room.

The room was large and barren, nothing but a large fan sat at the bottom. "This is the anti-gravity room, where we like to mess with the laws of physics. It's lots of fun, but we do have a lot more to do…"

Mrs. Blackwell led them further past this room, and stopped in front of another. "This is the experimental robotics lab, where we invent and alter electrical mechanics. It can be dangerous in there, so we'll wait until later to go in here… into the elevator, everyone!" Another large see-through box floated down in front of them, and they all slowly filed into it.

"How many elevators do you have, Mrs. Blackwell?" asked Ginny as the elevator slowly floated down.

"We have four, some of which lead to different parts of floors only accessible through them," Mrs. Blackwell answered. The doors opened again, and she led the way out.

"This is our dining room… we, of course, _dine_ in here…" A large, marble-like table with many chairs around is stood in the middle of the large white hall, and a shimmering chandelier hovered above it. A thin, light blue metal bar was above their heads, and all of a sudden, Harry heard a high-pitched scream. He turned around quickly, and saw a small boy being held up by his forearms onto the metal bar. He was sliding down it quickly, and as he approached the wall, a large, bright read target inflated itself, and broke his fall as his arms were released and he flew forward onto it.

Recovering from the fall, he jumped off the target, and whooped. He grinned at the group, and ran out of the room quickly. "That was Jeremyah, and he absolutely adores to use the Blueberry Turnover… Let's continue!"

She walked past the table, and Jeremyah ran out of the dining room, squealing happily. "This is our kitchen," she said as she led them past a large refrigerator, a huge oven, and a small table surrounded by a few checkered chairs.

Harry saw a small person sitting at the table, and suddenly realized it was a house-elf. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Daisy, our house-carekeeper." Daisy looked up, and smiled at the group. Harry immediately turned to Hermione, knowing she would not like this. Just as he suspected, she frowned.

"Hello!" Daisy said in her high voice. Mrs. Blackwell grinned as Daisy jumped down from the chair. To his surprise, Harry saw Daisy was wearing a pretty green floral dress and sandals. _The Blackwells must pay her, then..._ He turned to Hermione, whose expression had softened into admiration toward Mrs. Blackwell when she realized that she felt the same way about elfish freedoms. Daisy turned, and walked out of the kitchen.

"So... continuing on, this is the entrance to the Superman, and this is our movie gallery, where we keep all of the movies we own and every minute that we've ever filmed…" She led them quickly past two doors, and stopped in front of another. "This is our auditorium, and I think my daughter Becca is practicing, so be quiet…" She placed a finger over her lips, and slowly opened the double doors.

A girl who looked about fifteen stood upon a stage, her arms thrown up in the air. Many spotlights were focused upon her, and occasionally they would change. She brought her hands down gracefully, and looking around moodily, began to sing quickly and spiritedly.

"I've been cheated by you, since I know we're not in… Though I've made up my mind, you must come to an end… Look at me now! Will I ever learn, I don't know how! But I finally loose control- there's a fire within my soul… just one look and I can hear the bells ring… one more look and I forget everything… o-oh, oh… Mama mia, here I go again…!" she sang out confidently, dancing to the hyped music and background signing.

"Mama mia, does it show again? -just how much I've missed you! Yes, I've been broken hearted, blue since the day we parted-" a young boy sitting in the audience in front of a thin white laptop cheered, and clapped his hands, yelling at her to keep the beat. Mrs. Blackwell signaled the group out, and continued down the hall.

"This is the movie theater, where we'll watch the movies later…"

"Which movies, Mrs. Blackwell?" asked Hermione politely.

"The Harry Potter installments, of course! You'll really like them, don't worry…" She walked them past this, and turned a corner. Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye a large set of double doors. They read: **EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY: DO NOT ENTER**.

"What's in there, Mrs. Blackwell?" he asked.

"We test all of our inventions and anything else we can come up with. It is SO dangerous in there we ourselves don't even go in. We have a small office from which we operate from, and when we do need human testers, we make temporary clones of ourselves and use them as guinea pigs," she said, looking back.

"We've been here before, down there's the meeting room… this here is the darkroom… it's occupied, and the paper is light sensitive, so we shouldn't go inside…wait-" she looked around, and led the group back from where they came. She turned the corner again, and walking past the auditorium and movie theater, pushed open another door.

The only light source of the room was a large disco ball hanging from the ceiling giving off various colored beams. Large, square boxes surrounded the walls, most of them with bright screens and strange controls. In the middle of the room, a large screen read, _Would you like to dance?_ in funky letters. In front of the screen there were two floor pads, both with arrows pointing in various directions. "What's that?" asked Bill, eyeing the machine closely.

"It's a game called Dance-Dance Revolution. It's quite fun, I suggest you all attempt it at some point... Great… let's keep going! Wait- we'll have to take the elevator in the living room again…" Mrs. Blackwell led the group through the hallway, past the large staircase, through the living room, up the elevator, and through the hallway again into another elevator.

"Now we'll be able to see the athletic section of our home, where we have various facilities for just about every Muggle sport there is," she smiled brightly, and led the group through another hallway. She stopped in front of a door, and pushed it open.

An older girl stood in the middle of a large, barren room with mirrors on the walls and bars lined along them. She listened to a miserable song, mimed a few movements, and scribbled something down in her notebook. She turned to the group and smiled.

"This is Cathy, and THIS is our dance studio for the few in our family that are devoted to dance and ballet- let's keep going…"

Mrs. Blackwell beckoned the group out again, and brought them to another door.

"This is our indoor track field and our workout area…look, Todd's practicing his jumping…" Harry walked onto the small platform, and looked over the railing. Ron and Hermione walked over next to him, and watched intently as Todd crouched down on the ground.

He looked up determinedly at a bar set high up in the air the gym's length away. Todd looked down again, took a deep breath, and began to run as fast as he could. Harry watched in awe as the boy sped amazingly quickly down the track, and gasped when Todd took a great leap, turned himself in the air, and soared over the thin bar. A large trampoline broke his fall, and he shakingly stood up upon it. "New personal record!" he bellowed out. "Seven feet and six point two inches!" Mrs. Blackwell clapped, and smiled warmly at him. Todd grinned widely, and walked slowly back to where he started.

"Todd's a sprinter and jumper… he's actually doing very well…Well, let's keep going, why don't we?" Mrs. Blackwell led the way out again, and walked across the hall.

She opened the door, and fast, techno music met their ears. The room was a large ice skating rink with seats around it; upon the ground were the lines and symbols usually placed upon a hockey rink. A younger girl in a dark purple ice skating dress was soaring over the ice, turning and occasionally jumping high into the air.

"This is Anastasia, and she is amazing at ice skating…" Mrs. Blackwell swelled up with pride, and said happily, "You might even say she's the Viktor Krum of figure skating- it's as if she's been blessed by the ice skating gods- and she's only fifteen!" She grinned again, and turned around again.

Mrs. Blackwell opened another door across the hall, and stood aside as the group filed in. Harry looked around eagerly at the high bars, floor mats, trampolines, and the occasional ring attached to a string, hanging from the ceiling. On one of these bars was Katie, wearing a tight blue suit. She gracefully did a cartwheel, and jumped off the bar, spreading her legs widely and bringing them back together quickly. She landed down, staggering a bit, and began running across a mat, doing complicated flips and cartwheels. She finally stopped, her arms above her gracefully as she attempted to catch her breath.

She looked up, and waved happily at the group. "How'd you do that?" asked Ron in awe.

Katie flexed her biceps, and patting one, answered, "Tons of upper body strength, dude. That's all it is," Mrs. Blackwell smiled widely, and beckoned the group out again.

"Katie is like a human rubber band… if you thought Bella was flexible, you haven't seen _anything_- Katie, honey, do that thing where you sit on your head…" Mrs. Blackwell said to her daughter. Katie grinned, and lay on the ground face down. She lifted her legs upward, and she slowly brought her legs forward until her knees were beside her head. She looked up at them, and smiled widely.

"Isn't that sort of creepy... it wins all the gymnastics competitions, though," Mrs. Blackwell said, filled with pride. Katie stood up again, and walked over to the beam again.

She walked across the hall again, and explained as they looked into glass, "This is our very own indoor skate-park, where a few of my kids like to practice or just hang out," Harry grinned as he watched an older boys upon roller blades streak up and down large ramps and railings set up around the spacy room. Mrs. Blackwell urged the group further, and into another room.

A large green field took up the room, and a solitary girl jogged upon it, neatly dribbling a pink soccer ball down the field and past various colored shapes. "This is our indoor field, where out kids can practice soccer, American football, lacrosse, field hockey, and anything else they can come up with that involves a large grass field. Down there's Danielle, our star soccer player, using a system of ours that creates opponents at or above her level for her to practice against. Um… yeah, let's keep going…" She opened the doors again, and took the group outside.

She led the group down a paved path up to a few tennis courts, where Harry saw someone he recognized as Kim playing.

As they neared the courts, Harry saw Kim was breathing quickly as she chased after the ball. She would swing her racket wildly, sending the ball just skimming over the top of the net at incredible speeds. A pink blur stood across from her, and it would bounce the ball back to her with equal skill and strength. It hit the ball back, Kim returned it, and the blur gave her a ball which sent her running to the end of the court, and tripping over her feet as the ball just touched the 'in' line. The group gasped, and Kim slowly stood up.

"Are you okay, Kim?" Mrs. Blackwell asked warmly. Kim sat down on the ground, attempting to catch her breath.

"Can't… beat… the… th-the… stupid… _machine…_" She said breathlessly as she threw a tennis ball at the blur in frustration. The blur simply hit the ball back, making it get stuck inside a hole on the wire fence. Kim groaned, and leaned back on the ground.

Mrs. Blackwell turned to the group, and explained to them, "Well, down here's our outdoor basketball courts, and way, way over there is out baseball and softball field, and see those targets over there? That's our archery range, and way, way in the distance is Lake Blackwell, an _actual_ lake that came along with the house when we bought it. Well, that's pretty much every thing… Now, we should think about heading inside and getting ready for dinner." She pointed everything out to the group, and led them back along the path, into the elevator, and into the third floor, one which they had not seen yet.

"This middle section is meant for guests, you'll find that your doors, much unlike the other rooms, do not have your name on them. We only have a limited number of rooms, so… Hermione, Ginny, can you bunk? Great, um… Ron, Harry? Alright… Fred and George can take one room, Percy and Charlie, do you mind sharing a room? Okay, so that leaves… a room for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and one for Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and one for Bill and Fleur-"

"They'll share a room?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted, clearly upset with this setup.

"Well, think about it- they'll be sharing living spaces soon anyways..."

Mrs. Weasley debated with herself for a second, then nodded in defeat. Mrs. Blackwell grinned, and answered, "Don't worry about it. Oh, and thank goodness I didn't forget! There's something else I want to show you."

She led the group past all of the bedrooms, and up to another door. She turned to them, and whispered energetically, "My family has always had this large, annoying obsession with collecting things. And I really want to show you a certain one that you as a group might find quite interesting…" she pushed open the door, and led them inside.

The hall was dark, but as soon as they stepped inside, bright lights lit up the room. Mrs. Blackwell led them slowly down the aisle, allowing them to gaze at the objects set up inside glass cases. Harry saw trophies, antique dolls, tricycles, and other childhood objects. Mrs. Blackwell turned away from the antiques, and signaled to a door. She pushed it open, and led the group inside.

Harry gasped when the lights turned on. Everywhere he looked, there were sculptures, painting, and posters with his face, name, or body part in them. He walked over to a glass case, where he saw replicas of he and his friends' wands and other collectables. He continued down the wall, where there were various paintings. One of them caught his eye- it seemed to have the upper right part of his face painted down on the lower right corner; the background was black; his right eye sparkled out from the painting, and his scar shone brightly upon his pale skin. He looked further down, and saw its label: _Invincible- Ashley Blackwell, 2005._

"Ashley painted this?" Harry asked, looking closely at it.

"Yes- when the sixth Harry Potter book came out, she suddenly got this Harry Potter fever, and went into an art trance. Almost every painting or sculpture in here she made in the period of three months. She literally locked herself up in the art room, and I had to drag her out to make her eat and sleep. It was actually like that when the seventh book came out… we went to the New York premiere, and we got back home at… two thirty? I tried to make her sleep, but she stayed up for five hours reading it. She sort of went to sleep when she finished it, but she couldn't sleep, so she stayed up the rest of the night talking to her dog about it until I threatened to ground her." Mrs. Blackwell laughed, and led everyone back out to their bedrooms.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour, and dinner will be served at 7:30 in the dining room. I'll be seeing you later!" Mrs. Blackwell waved goodbye and walked away.

**------**

**Thanks for reading… till later, I guess…**

**Songs are in order by Jesse McCartney and Skye Sweetnam**

**Confused by all the blondes... that's fine, 'cause they're a big family.**


	5. Black, White, and Blue

It's Not Over Till We're Underground, chapter five

This chapter is about how the Blackwells will begin to aid Harry in the War.

Ginny grinned at the bedrooms, and walked over to Hermione. "This is so amazing!" She sighed, and fell back onto Hermione's bed. She sat up again, and said, "Let's explore!"

"Sure, Ginny, I-" Hermione began.

"Hey, peeps," Todd interrupted, sticking his head in the bedroom. "Apparently, you both have excellent taste. I was wondering if y'all wanted to hang out with me and company. Up for it?" He grinned, and Hermione smiled warmly back at him.

"That sounds great." Hermione walked away from the white shelves and out of the room. Ginny stood up and followed her out. Todd was talking to Harry and Ron, Hermione quietly joining their conversation.

"What do y'all wanna do?" Todd asked, Ashley swiftly appearing at his side. "Ashley wants us to go to her room. Sound cool?" he asked. The group nodded, but Ginny piped up, "I think that's great, but I kind of wanted to explore this place."

"Okay. Just don't get lost, or, like, kill yourself," Ashley answered with a wink. She turned, and led the rest of the group away to the other side of the hall.

Ginny slowly headed over to the stairs and slowly descended. She noticed the delicate swirls carved into the white railing, and ran her hand over them softly. The sound of her sneakers softly slapping on the white marble echoed through the floors. Ginny reached the bottom, and after glancing out a large window, stepped outside into the warm sunlight.

She smiled, looking out over the beautiful scene; a magnificently shining lake, soft green hills, and a perfect blue sky, not a cloud in sight. As she stared out over it, she noticed a figure in the distance, atop a hill. The figure was standing still, almost as if gazing out onto the lake. Curious, Ginny began to walk over to the figure.

Upon nearing this person, a spark of blue reflected off the person's head. A gust of wind blew Ginny's hair forward into her face, almost as if encouraging her to approach Artemis. She stepped closer, and just as she opened her mouth, Artemis, his back to her, said softly, "Hi, Ginny."

"Hi, Artemis," Ginny walked closer, standing at level with him. He was gazing at the lake, and he continued to as she asked, "How did you know it was me?"

"I smelled your perfume," he replied. "It's one of those that is quite subtly very strong and flowery. I picked it up in the car. Lavender, isn't it?"

"Yes," she replied, watching him closely. He blinked, and turned to her. He smiled softly at her, and she noticed deep worry marks on his face and apprehensiveness in his eyes. "Are you all right, Artemis?"

Artemis turned to the lake again, and sighed. "In a way, I guess. But probably not. Are you?" He sat down on the grass, and motioned for her to sit.

Ginny tucked her legs under her, sitting next to him. "I'm fine. We'll all be all right here now, thankfully."

Artemis sighed again, continuing to stare at the lake. "Yes, yes, we will…" He looked down, pulling at the grass, frowning slightly.

"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked, turning her body slightly towards him.

"That's the thing, Ginny, nothing's wrong, it's just…" he stopped, and raised his head sharply. Artemis turned to her, and watching her carefully, asked, "Do you know what Legimency and Occlumency are?"

Ginny racked her brains; she knew she'd heard those terms somewhere. "I've heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione talking about it, but no, not really."

"Legimency is the practice of extracting feelings and memories from a person's mind. It's not exactly 'mind-reading', but... well, for example, Legimency can be used to tell is someone is lying to you by being able to see memories that contradict what a person is telling you. Occlumency is the opposite, the practice of being able to block and hide memories. You've heard about it because Harry had to take Occlumency lessons two years ago," Artemis quietly explained, still watching her closely.

"Why did he need Occlumency classes?" Ginny asked, leaning back on her elbows.

"Normally, Legimency needs eye contact to be successful, but Harry's scar, which mentally connects him to Voldemort," Ginny flinched slightly at the name, but let him continues, "makes it so Voldemort can perform Legimency on him without needing eye contact, and Harry can delve somewhat into Voldemort's mind, and vice-versa. Dumbledore really didn't want Voldemort to draw Harry into the Department of Mysteries, so he had Snape give Harry Occlumency lessons. Unfortunately, they horribly backfired, Snape being an impatient teacher, and Harry was drawn into the Department of Mysteries." Artemis explained.

"Oh," Ginny said, and looked out at the lake. "Why are you telling me this?"

Artemis sighed, and said, "My parents have given me a mission. They wanted me to become a Death Eater, and gain Voldemort's trust. The potential setback, though, is that Voldemort is an extremely talented Legimens."

"So you can't lie to him," Ginny finished. She gaped at him.

Artemis gave her a brief bittersweet smile and continued: "Well, if I were like you and every other person, yes. I could be an Occlumens, but Legimens can tell if you're blocking memories. And you can't do both Occlumency and Legimency at the same time. My parents asked me to do this because I can actually pull it off. You see, in order to really convince a Legimens, you need actual memories to back up what you are saying. The Legimens must be fooled into thinking they are seeing your true memories, and therefore not lying. I've always had the weird talent of being able to tell how someone is feeling and see memories that cause that certain emotion by just looking at them. I can also sometimes see their thoughts, even if they're images or verbal. I've never needed eye contact, even if I just think about the person long enough I can see how and why they feel and what they are thinking. I don't actually do it to everyone," he said quickly, noticing Ginny's uncomfortable expression, "That's an invasion of privacy. I only do it when it's totally necessary. Anyways, when my parents began to explore this more, we found that I was able to fabricate memories, and almost… convince myself and mind that those were my real memories, yet still somehow have a grasp on my own, real memories. Do you get what I'm saying?" Artemis asked.

Ginny stared back at him, and asked, "What do you mean, 'fabricate memories'?"

Artemis shuffled closer to her, and said, "Well, the way memories are formed is… well, simply, your mind records what it sees and stores it. When I fabricate these memories, I make them up. I can create false memories, and make my mind store them. It's almost as if, inside my mind, I'm making up an entire new identity and life for myself. I can make myself believe that these memories are real, as to make them seem real to any Legimens, yet I still have a hold, on the back of my mind, on my old memories, and can still distinguish between fake and real memories. With this ability, I can recruit myself within Voldemort's forces, and successfully fool him into believing that I am truly on his side, while still giving the Order of the Phoenix information. I'm just sort of nervous about this all, wondering if I can really pull it off." He finished, and watched Ginny for her reaction.

Ginny glanced down, and playing with the grass, asked him, "When are you going to join? Because after that article in the Daily Prophet, I don't think he'll even let you live."

Artemis' eyebrows shot up, and he pulled the sleeve on his left arm up to the elbow. There was a black tattoo of a skull and a snake coming out of its mouth, and the tattoo contrasted heavily upon Artemis' fair skin. The black ink gleamed in the light of the sunset, deepening its contrast. He said to her, " I actually 'joined' the Death Eaters last month. Voldemort's just begun to notice me, and he's keeping quite a close eye on me. Tomorrow, I'm setting out into the wilderness of Britain, and I'll try to somehow first gain the trust of another Death Eater, live with them, and eventually, get as close to Voldemort as possible. " He pulled the sleeve back over his arm.

"How will you do that?" she asked him, watching the wind blow his blue bangs into his eyes.

"Well, first I'll do whatever Voldemort instructs me to. We really don't want anyone else to die, to my parents are turning out basement into a refuge for all the potential victims to Voldemort's attacks. What will happen is that every time that a raid or ambush is about to begin, whether I am assigned to it or not, I will be at the scene, and find every person who is in the vicinity. Then, I'll sort of make a physical copy of them. So it'd be like I would make an exact copy of you- so there'd be you and another body that looks just like you, except it doesn't think. It's just an empty shell. Then, I'll transport all of the people to the refuge, and leave the copies. I'll leave the scene, and Voldemort's raids will go as planned, except no-one is really killed, and they'll all be safe in our basement. So I'll be following all of Voldemort's orders exactly as he says and doing everything in my power to gain his trust and the other Death Eaters' trust. Meanwhile, I'll be searching the minds of as many of them as possible and Voldemort's himself, making sure to know when every single raid will happen and when they're getting too close to Harry on his mission." He paused, and looked down at his knees.

"What if he tries to kill you?" Ginny asked softly.

Artemis looked up at her, and smiling weakly, "Then, I'll capture and kill whoever he's sent, making it seem like a tragic accident. I don't think he'd risk attacking me himself, or even letting me get too close to him. All I really have to do is just get the trust of one Death Eater, most preferably one of great importance, and if I could just see Voldemort once- if I can catch just a glimpse of him, I would be able to look into his thoughts and memories. I just hope everything goes well…" Artemis fell silent, and turned to the shimmering lake. It was getting late, and the sun was beginning to set. The sky was slowly turning light purple, and a faint sliver of the moon was visible.

They sat there in silence for a bit, watching the sun set over Lake Blackwell. Once the sun was halfway over the horizon, Artemis said, "We should go in now, my dad should be done making dinner."

"What? Your dad cooks?" Ginny asked with a grin, thinking of her own mother in the Burrow's cramped kitchen.

"Yes, and his food is quite delicious," he replied with a warm smile. Artemis stood up, and shaking off the grass of his pants, held out a hand. Ginny took it, letting him pull her up. They turned around and slowly walked back to the Blackwell mansion.

Whoa, thanks for reading. I hope y'all aren't too confused. Please review, it inspires me to continue writing. Next chapter, we'll see Draco, and the Golden Trio well, shouldn't it technically be the Golden Quadruple, since Ginny's going too...? prepare to begin their Horcrux search. To prepare for it, please see my other fanfiction, Breaking the Habit. It talks about Draco's change of heart.


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